With the development of numerous Internet based service and content providers, users can readily request information and applications from their fixed or mobile computing devices virtually whenever and wherever they choose. Most service and content providers are available 24 hours a day, and the geographic location of providers is limited only by the availability of suitable network connections. Users have come to take for granted the constant availability of content and services, often at minimal cost.
Such Internet based provisioning presents security issues. When content is received, users typically are unable to determine if the received content is the valid content that they requested, or if a hacker or other third party has injected some unwanted content such as malicious code that can present a security risk at either the server side or the client side, or both. Thus, routine interaction with a content provider can present substantial security risks. Some technologies that address the potential problems of injected content are based on secure coding techniques that can reduce the likelihood of such code injection, or application firewalls that are configured to block the entry of malicious code at a content provider or at a content requestor.